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Lee Clark believes that the 2019/20 football season should be finished if at all possible but says the many obstacles standing in the way make that 'unrealistic' in the foreseeable future, even behind closed doors.

The former Huddersfield Town boss - who left the John Smith's Stadium in 2012 and has since managed Birmingham, Blackpool, Kilmarnock, Bury and Blyth Spartans - says he has spoken to one of his former chairmen on the subject and that they agree the logistics make it all but impossible.

Speaking on an Instagram Live interview with Steve Wraith, Clark said: “First of all I’m massively about getting the season finished because there’s so many issues if you don’t, but I’ve got to say I think the powers that be, especially in the Premier League, their minds are getting messed with because of the massive figures with the television stuff and the amount of money that’s around the Premier League.

“When you look at some of the other major leagues around Europe that have already called them off and then you have the chief medical officer of FIFA who says everything should be stopped and then play for 1st September for a new season, I think that could be a possibility.

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“I’ve accepted that it will be behind closed doors if it’s going to happen but I’ve never really wanted it to happen because the whole point of it is sharing that emotion with the supporters and having the passion and atmosphere of the games, but unfortunately in the position we’re in that cannot be.

“There’s been talk about players not spitting…now, spitting when you play football or you do any type of physical exercise isn’t like spitting in a way that you wouldn’t condone it if you’re just walking along the street or whatever.

“If you’re expending a lot of energy and you get that dehydration feeling, you need to get that dry mouth situation out that way.

“Also when they’re talking about wearing masks – I can’t see it happening. It wouldn’t be possible to wear a mask. You’re covering some distance, you’re working extremely hard over 96 minutes of football including injury time, it would be impossible to wear a mask. I can’t see how it would be done.

“And how would you deal with social distancing? Even behind closed doors you’ve got officials, you’ve got medical teams that would have to be there who you’re potentially taking away from the pandemic.

“I saw the other week a lad called Stephen Quinn getting interviewed who’s now in League One and his wife actually is a nurse and she works in the Covid-19 ward, so if the EFL goes back into play and his wife is working in the Covid ward, he might be a carrier and not know about it and pass it onto the Burton squad, do they then go and play?

“And I was talking to one of my ex-chairmen last night of one of the clubs I managed and he made a good point about Premier League teams: where are you going to put them? How are they going to travel to away games even if there’s no fans? They fly by private plane to the venue and stay in a hotel, how are they going to do it? Are they going to get a coach? All this, the logistics of the game, is all going to be messed with.

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“Until we get back to normality it’s a tough one but I just think the main stakeholders of the Premier League are getting their judgement clouded a little bit by the finances and not making a clear decision.

“I totally back up what Gary Neville was saying and he’s talking from a fantastic position because he’s an ex-player, he’s a pundit, and he’s now the owner of a club, so he’s talking from all aspects of it.

“His club [Salford City] will probably end up losing money if they don’t fulfil their fixtures but he’s more concerned with the safety of the players, the officials, the medical teams and the people who’ll have to go.

“I just think it’s looking unrealistic. There’s big decisions to be made. It’s not easy and I wouldn’t want to be one of those people making the decisions because whichever way they go they’re going to upset someone, aren’t they.”